An Umbrella Lesson on Pike Street
A mother tracks her son to a saloon to force him home, wielding her umbrella in a public display of motherly discipline.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Officer Harry Faucett had an amusing experience with an irate mother and a wayward son yesterday afternoon. The old lady accosted him on Pike street and asked if he would help her find her son, who she thought was in some saloon. Together they went to Leister's, corner of Front and Pike, and the old lady poked around with an old New England umbrella until she found a youthful figure which was a little intoxicated. 'I want you to go home at once,' she said, and emphasized her remarks by whacking him over the head with the umbrella. 'Hold on,' said Faucett, 'I didn't bring you here to create a disturbance.' 'I know that,' she replied, 'but it makes me so mad I can't help it. Here he came to town two days ago to buy lumber to build an addition to our house, and this is the way I find him.' The young man came out of the saloon with his mother and, guided by her helping hand, reached Second and Pike streets, where they took a Fremont car.
“I want you to go home at once, she said, and emphasized her remarks by whacking him over the head with the umbrella.”
A vivid, humanizing look at daily life in Seattle, showing how family life and the 'saloon' economy collided publicly. It serves as a reminder of the temperance struggles that would eventually lead to Prohibition.
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